Final Results
History was made on Saturday afternoon as DBU claimed its first NCAA Division II Women's Golf National Championship and became the first Lone Star Conference team to win the national title. The Patriots defeated Lynn University by a single stroke to clinch the title and cap off a historic season with the biggest win of them all.
The Patriots battled a talented Lynn squad all day long. The Fighting Knights took an early lead thanks to some incredible work on and around the greens. Julia Garcia and Jaycie Stewart were off first. The pair played extremely well but were edged by Lynn players who shot par or better. Garcia battled to within five shots of her player and Stewart made up ground on the 18th hole, finishing her match just two strokes behind. These gains by the Pats would be of crucial importance later on.
With two points in for Lynn, the Patriots had work to do to stay alive in their championship hunt. Faith DeLaGarza responded to the occasion by winning her team their first full point of the day, claiming a seven-stroke victory. For DeLaGarza, she took the lead in her match on the 7th hole and never relinquished it.
Playing in the second to last pairing was senior Hanna Harrison. In her final collegiate round, Harrison played some of the most clutch golf of her career down the stretch, battling her opponent to a tie on the 15th hole. That tie lasted until the 18th green when Harrison got up and down for par to win her match. She made the four-foot putt to win the second point for her team and immediately hugged Head Coach Kenny Trapp, knowing she had just given her team a chance.
With the points tied a two apiece for DBU and Lynn, the match came down to the final pairing of Olivia Mitchell and newly crowned NCAA Individual Champion Helen Kreuzer. Mitchell had just made birdie on 17 to put herself just one shot back of Kreuzer as the pair headed to the 18th tee. Mitchell needed to tie Kreuzer in her match to give DBU the win thanks to the team stroke tiebreaker.
Both players found the fairway, setting the stage for Mitchell to hit the shot of the year into the final green. After clubbing down from 140 yards at the advice of Coach Trapp, Mitchell stuffed the second shot to three feet below the hole. While Lynn missed their birdie putt from 20 feet away, the WGCA Freshman of the Year poured her birdie putt right in the middle of the cup and the celebration ensued as the new national champions rushed the green.
In total, the Patriots finish one of the most outstanding seasons in NCAA Golf history by winning eight times, including the Lone Star Conference Championship as well as the NCCAA and NCAA Division II championships.
After three rounds, DBU was fifth (907) to advance to medal match play. The Patriots defeated UIndy in the quarterfinals and Grand Valley State in the semifinals.
St. Mary’s qualified for medal match play with a sixth place finish (909). The Rattlers topped Findlay in the quarterfinals before falling to Lynn via tiebreaker (match 2) in the semifinals.
Texas A&M-Commerce finished ninth (935), while West Texas A&M’s Loukyee Songprasert and Oklahoma Christian’s Camilla Jarvela, who competed as individuals, tied for ninth (222) and 42nd (236), respectively.